EASE DOWN THE ROAD

Though consumers will be able to eventually acquire a copy of the band’s haunting seventh LP in one of a few various “official” forms, a name-your-price download is the proemial format. That goes for not just the music media types but also for the fans who for once get to hear an album before it’s ever properly reviewed. As for In Rainbows’ 10 songs, let’s just say they’re good, but that’s expected from Radiohead, right? Big ideas demand big results, right? How’s this for perspective: even when compared to the band’s mostly great catalog, In Rainbows is worth celebrating.

The one thing that had been crippling Thom Yorke and Co. – and thereby muddying up their output – were the ever-looming expectations of living up to their signature album, 1997’s OK Computer. Here, for the first time since that landmark album, Radiohead don’t seem to be considering expectations. They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel (Kid A) or please fans (Hail to the Thief); they’re just being Radiohead. They’re not worrying about trends, deep conceptual themes or worldly relevance; they’re simply playing in a band again, same as it ever was.

Opening In Rainbows is a distorted drum machine loop that works as a fixed backbone for the excellent “15 Step,” a song the band has labored over for years. Guitars, keyboards, a barrage of vocal layers, thrumming ambiance and live drums come in and out, building and bottoming for what is ultimately their best composition (”There There” aside) since Kid A. Next up is the energetic “Bodysnatchers,” a complex rocker that only Radiohead could come up with. Guitars (yes, real guitars!) tease and tickle – both subtle and rollicking – before announcing the official return of Radiohead, the best band on the planet (again), somewhere around the 3:33 mark. It’s not quite OK Computer- or The Bends-level guitarplay, but it’s close enough.

Yorke’s soulful vocals (better here than ever), a strong inclination for thick, rhythmic Krautrock moodiness and a sometimes less-than-full lushness mark just three of the new tools Radiohead incorporate here. Ultimately though, In Rainbows simply sounds like a band who have finally discovered how to operate within the confines of what they do best, the trick being that they no longer seem to feel the need for grand gestures of massive style overhauls. Though the whole of In Rainbows very clearly sounds like the band responsible for Kid A and Thief, closer “Videotape” is the only obvious fan pleaser (think “Pyramid Song” and “True Love Waits”). The thing is, it’s good – good enough, you’d have to assume, that it made the final cut over the eight forthcoming b-sides the band has already promised.

And let’s not forget “Reckoner,” a song they originally wrote in 1997. Within the sweep of the band’s most typical set of tools – subtle melodic guitar, entranced vocal harmonies, sprinkled piano licks, strings, calming machine-gun drums, etc. – Radiohead do what they do best: construct. It’s all there, the details, the vocals, the lyrics and even the guitars. Everything you’d expect from Radiohead, including their inventiveness, plays a part in the all-around specialness that is In Rainbows.

To the dismay of many bored but loyal fans, In Rainbows utilizes longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Known for his ability to twist just about anything into an epic (including crappy Paul McCartney albums), Godrich’s treatment here is thankfully a bit less in your face. Rather than melt everything into a potpourri of swirling, overly lush atmospheres, he’s finally letting things pop. He’s still layering, but only 30 or so tracks per song as opposed to the 100-plus heard on the band’s last four albums. Most importantly, he’s letting the musicians speak for themselves this time.

Coming off as about as minimalist as Radiohead get these days (save for the Thief b-sides), these recordings are still huge, thick and vast; but without the Thief-like sheen this long-labored, fragile set of compositions shine for what they are, brooding and beautiful. Yorke’s vocals soar more than ever, and Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood’s guitars (at least when they choose to really play them) are ablaze. But the key here is the band’s unrivaled knack for structure. As was the case with OK Computer, In Rainbows is fast-thinking, moving from idea to idea seamlessly, leaving in its tracks a deceivingly complex batch of accessible prog-rock songs.

Due to how the album was released, it’s surely bound to go down in rock-geek history as one of the pivotal moments of the current transitional download era. Everything about how In Rainbows was handled is interesting, and with any luck it just might scare the corporate set straight … er, half-straight. Thankfully for fans, In Rainbows is not just an album with a story but a great album with and unthinkably great backstory. File this one right next to OK Computer under L. L for “landmark.”